Fuel filter device

ABSTRACT

A filter device including a probe where a filter element probe first end selectively engages with a sensing unit located in a filter head and a filter element probe second end is located in a contaminant portion of a filter canister. The probe fixedly engages through the filter element utilizing a sealing component. The filter element is disposed in the filter canister that engages with the filter head.

BACKGROUND

In general, automobiles, boats, ships, industrial vehicles, constructionvehicles and other transportation vehicles incorporate a filter device.The filter device sometimes has a sensor or system for indicating thedegree of contamination, the timing for replacing a filter or timing ofrenewal of contaminated oil thereby preventing occurrence of problems orissues in the vehicle engine, hydraulic system, etc.

Many of these prior art devices detect water or contamination afterdamage to the vehicle engine or vehicle engine shutdown has alreadyoccurred. In addition, many prior art contamination sensors are locatedon the outside of a filter canister which exposes them to debris anddamage, for example when the filter is located in a wheel well.

Water in the fuel, for example if not detected quickly enough couldresult in the failure of the engine at a critical time in the operationof a vehicle.

The instant invention relates to a water or contaminant detection filtersuited for use in connection with fuel supply systems, hydraulic systemsand where the presence of water in a fuel or fuel mixture may cause lossof power when needed or damage to an engine.

The sensing instrumentalities of the instant invention are of a formwhich will minimize possible damage the engine and in turn provide foractuation of a sensing circuit located in the filter device. The instantinvention provides the convenience, safety, and reliability of a spin onmetal filter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

What is disclosed herein may take physical form in certain parts andarrangement of parts in a filter device, and will be described in detailin this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings whichform a part hereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional side view of an exemplary filter deviceenclosing a filter element with a probe, where a probe first end isconstructed to selectively engage with a sensing unit, a probe secondend is disposed in a contaminant receiving portion of a filter canisterand the filter canister is attached to the fuel filter head.

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating the exemplary filter deviceillustrated in FIG. 1 attached to the fuel filter head.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 2 illustrating an exemplaryarrangement of the essential parts of the filter device in relation toone another.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a spud and sensor assembly.

FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating an exemplary filter device attachedto the fuel filter head where a wireless sensor and signal communicatorwirelessly communicates with an electronic control module.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1-3 illustratedin FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary filter device100. FIGS. 2-3 illustrate a side view of the exemplary filter device 200and an exploded view of the exemplary filter device 300, respectively.The filter device 100 comprises a filter element 102 that is arrangedwithin a filter canister 104 (FIG. 2) to block a contaminant, forexample, water within a fuel or mixture. The filter element 102 withinthe filter canister 104 is threadedly, sealedly or non-sealedly engagedwith a filter head 106, for example. The filter element 102 isnon-fixedly sealedly engaged with a filter head 106 utilizing a filterelement compression spring 117. Although this embodiment utilizes thefilter element compression spring 117, other elements known by those ofskill in the art are contemplated herein. A probe 108 fixedly ornon-fixedly engages with the filter element 102 through a sealingcomponent 110. The probe 108 comprises a probe first end 112 that isconfigured to selectively engage a sensing unit 114 (shown within thedashed oval) attached to the filter head 106. A probe second end 116 isdisposed or located in a contaminant receiving portion 118 of the filtercanister 104.

The probe second end 116 is located to electrically couple the sensingunit 114 when water is detected within the contaminant receiving portion118 of the filter canister 104. An interior of the canister 120comprises an electrically conductive material that is utilized toelectrically couple with the sensing unit 114 when the filter canister104 is selectively engaged with the filter head 106.

The filter element 102 comprises an end cap 119 where the end cap 119defines a bottom end of the filter element 102 and the end cap 119defines a top of the contaminant receiving portion 118 of the filtercanister 104. The bottom interior wall of the interior of the canister120 below the end cap 119 defines the bottom and sides of thecontaminant receiving portion 118. The probe 108 is sealably engagedwith the sealing component 110 fixedly or non-fixedly connected with thefilter element end cap 119.

Thus, for example if fuel or a mixture within the contaminant receivingportion 118 contains water, as soon as the water reaches the probesecond end 116, the sensing unit 114 will sense a reduced electricalresistance and complete a circuit for sensing and signaling purposes.The sensing unit 114 determines a reduced electrical resistance betweenthe probe second end 116 and the electrically conductive interior of thecanister 120, for example, sensing the lower resistive through water ascompared with diesel fuel.

The filter head 106 comprises inlet ports 122, a threadably engagedelectrically conductive spud assembly 123 with a spud 124 having sideopenings 126 providing mixture flow access to the outlet ports 128. Athreaded spud end 127 threadedly engages with the filter head threadedopening 146 (FIG. 4). A threaded spud center portion 125 threadedlyengages with a canister top plate threaded opening 150. A spring/touchplug assembly 129 comprises an electrically conductive touch plug 130, aconductive spring 132, an insulated spring capsule 144 and a sensor wireassembly 148. The probe first end 112 is configured to engage theelectrically conductive touch plug 130 that is slidably disposed withinthe insulated spring capsule 144 located within the spud 124, whereinthe touch plug 130 is biased by the spring 132 toward the probe firstend 112, when the filter canister 104 is selectively engaged with thefilter head 106 (See e.g., FIG. 4). The electrically conductive touchplug 130 can comprise brass, stainless steel and the like. Thecompression spring 132 acts as a conductor between the touch plug 130and the sensor wire assembly 148. The mixture or fuel within the filtercanister 104 is in communication with the mixture outlet ports 128 bypassing through the multiple spud side holes 126, and a definedpassageway 134 within the insulated spring capsule 144. The insulatedspring capsule 144 can be a molded component, for example. The insulatedspring capsule materials comprise fuel resistant polymers, fuelresistant composites, metals and the like.

The conductive touch plug 130 is disposed in contact with the conductivespud 124 when the probe first end 112 is not selectively engaged withthe touch plug 130. (e.g., a filter without a probe is attached to thefilter head 106). A touch plug first end outer lip 131 comes intocontact with a spud inner lip 143 creating a touch off point 136. Inthis situation the sensing unit 114 determines electrical contactbetween the spud 124 and the touch plug 130, for example that indicatesthe lack of a probe in a filter device. The touch plug 130 is not incontact with the spud 124 (i.e., isolated by an insulated spring capsule144, see FIG. 4) when the probe first end 112 is selectively engagedwith the touch plug 130 which overcomes the bias force of the spring 132and moves the touch plug 130 away from contact with the spud 124. Thetouch plug 130 and the spring 132 are retained within the insulatedspring capsule 144 positioned between the spud inner surface 142 and thetouch plug 130. A spring first end 138 is attached to and restrained bya second end of the touch plug 151 as illustrated in FIG. 4 and a springsecond end 140 is attached to the sensor wire assembly 148, asillustrated.

In one aspect, the exemplary filter device (e.g., 100, 200, 300 of FIGS.1, 2 and 3, respectively) may be used to filter an undesired contaminantfrom a desired constituent. For example, the exemplary filter device maybe configured to be used in a fuel-water separator, where water mixedwith a fuel supply can be filtered out, resulting in an output of fuelcomprising less water.

In one implementation, in this aspect, the exemplary filter device maybe disposed in a filter canister (e.g., 104 of FIG. 1). As one example,the combined filter device and filter canister may comprise a disposablefilter unit, selectively engaged with a filter head (e.g., 106 of FIG.1), which, in turn, is configured to receive a (potential) mixture ofthe desired constituent (e.g., fuel) and undesired contaminant (e.g.,water). Further, in this example, the filter head may be configured tooutput the desired constituent mixed with less of the undesiredcontaminant when the disposable filter unit is selectively engaged.

In one implementation, the disposable filter unit can comprise acontaminant receiving portion (e.g., 118), that may be configured toreceive and store the undesired contaminant. As an example, when thecontaminant is removed from the constituent mixture is may collect inthe contaminant receiving portion of the disposable filter unit, whereit can be stored apart from the mixture filtering portion of thedisposable filter unit. That is, for example, water filtered from afuel-water mixture or mixture may collect in a bottom portion of thefilter canister, where is can be stored, and can remain separate fromthe mixture and/or the filtered fuel.

In this aspect, in one implementation, the filter device can comprise aprobe (e.g., 108) that is fixedly disposed in the filter device, such asthrough an end cap (e.g., 119) engaged with a filter element (e.g., 102)of the filter device. As an example, the end cap may comprise a sealingdevice (e.g., 110), such as a disk, gasket, polymer or rubber grommet,or the like, that is configured to fixedly engage with the probe, whilebeing fixedly engaged with the end cap. In this way, in this example, asecond end of the probe (e.g., 116) may be disposed through the end capinto the contaminant receiving portion of the disposable filter unit,while still maintaining a leak resistant barrier between the contaminantreceiving portion and the filtered fuel.

In one implementation, in this aspect, the second end of the probe maybe disposed in the contaminant receiving portion of the disposablefilter unit at a point that corresponds to a desired filter changelevel. That is, for example, when the contaminant in the contaminantreceiving portion reaches the second end of the probe, the contaminantreceiving portion may comprise sufficient contaminant to indicate thatthe filter should be changed out with a new filter, and/or thecontaminant receiving portion should be emptied of the contaminant, sothat the filtering operations are not compromised (e.g., the contaminantoverflows into the filtering operation). As an example, the level in thecontaminant receiving portion at which the second end of the probe maybe disposed may depend on a size and volume of the contaminant receivingportion, and/or an expected fill rate of the contaminant receivingportion.

In one implementation, a first end of the probe (e.g., 112) may bedisposed at a distal end from the second end, and may be configured toselectively engage with a touch plug (e.g., 130, disposed in the filterhead), such as when the filter unit is selectively engaged with thefilter head. In this implementation, the first end and second end of theprobe are electrically connected. In this implementation, the touch plugcan be comprised in a touch plug assembly (e.g., 129), which iselectrically connected with a sensor coupling unit (e.g., operably orcommunicatively engaged with a sensor). Therefore, for example, a sensor151 may be communicatively (e.g., wired or wirelessly) or operablycoupled with the first end of the probe 112, which is further operablycoupled with the second end of the probe 116. In this way, for example,when the contaminant reaches the level of the second end of the probe116, the wireless sensor and signal communicator 151 may becommunicatively or operably coupled with the contaminant. The wirelesssensor and signal communicator 151, selectively engaged with the filterhead 106 and electrically coupled with an ECM 152.

In another implementation, a sensor may be operably coupled with a userindicator, for example, configured to indicate to a user that thecontaminant level in the filter has reached the desired change outlevel. That is, for example, when the contaminant fills the container tothe level where it comes into contact with both the inside wall of thefilter canister and the second end of the probe, the sensor may detect achange in electrical resistance, which may result in the user indicatorbeing activated. In this way, the user may be able to identify when thefilter needs to be changed, for example, by observing the user indicator(e.g., light, notice, sound, etc.).

Although the invention has been illustrated and described with respectto one or more implementations, alterations and/or modifications may bemade to the illustrated examples without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims. In particular regard to the variousfunctions performed by the above described components or structures(assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), the terms (including areference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended tocorrespond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component or structurewhich performs the specified function of the described component (e.g.,that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurallyequivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in theherein illustrated exemplary implementations of the invention. Inaddition, while a particular feature of the invention may have beendisclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, suchfeature may be combined with one or more other features of the otherimplementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given orparticular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms“including”, “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereofare used in either the detailed description and the claims, such termsare intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term“comprising”.

What is claimed is:
 1. A filter device, comprising: a filter elementconfigured to separate a contaminant from a mixture, said filter elementconfigured to be disposed in a filter canister operably engaged with afilter head; a probe fixedly engaged with said filter element, saidprobe comprising: a first end configured to make contact with a touchplug end of a sensing unit disposed in said filter head when said filtercanister is selectively engaged with said filter head; and a second end,disposed in a contaminant receiving portion of said filter canister whensaid filter canister is selectively engaged with said filter head. 2.The filter device of claim 1, wherein said second end is configured toelectrically couple said sensing unit with said contaminant.
 3. Thefilter device of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of an interior ofsaid canister comprises an electrically conductive material that iselectrically coupled with said sensing unit when said filter canister isselectively engaged with said filter head.
 4. The filter device of claim3, wherein said second end is configured to electrically couple saidsensing unit with said interior wall of said canister when saidcontaminant is in contact with said second end.
 5. The filter device ofclaim 1, wherein said filter element comprises an end cap, wherein: saidend cap defines a bottom end of said filter element; said end capdefines a top of said contaminant receiving portion of said filtercanister; and said probe is fixedly engaged with said end cap.
 6. Thefilter device of claim 5, wherein: said end cap comprises a sealablyengaged sealing component; and said probe is fixedly engaged with saidsealing component.
 7. The filter device of claim 1, wherein: said filtercanister is configured to selectively engage a spud that is engaged withsaid filter head; and said probe is configured to engage a touch plug,slidably disposed inside said spud and biased toward said probe, whensaid canister is selectively engaged with said spud.
 8. The filterdevice of claim 7, wherein said spud and said touch plug respectivelycomprise electrically conductive material, and wherein: said touch plugis disposed in contact with said spud when said probe is not selectivelyengaged with said touch plug; and said touch plug is not in contact withsaid spud when said probe is selectively engaged with said touch plug.9. A filter sensor device, comprising: a filter head spud, configured tobe operably coupled with a filter head; a touch plug slidably disposedin said filter head spud, wherein said touch plug is configured toelectrically couple a touch plug, disposed in said filter head, with afirst end of a probe fixedly disposed in a filter device that isdisposed in a filter canister selectively engaged with said filter head;and wherein said touch plug is configured to be in electrical couplingwith a second end of said probe, disposed in a contaminant receivingportion of said filter canister, and in electrical coupling with acontaminant sensor, when said filter canister is selectively engagedwith said filter head.
 10. The filter sensor device of claim 9, whereinsaid filter head spud comprises one or more passageways configured toallow passage of fluid into said filter head spud.
 11. The filter sensordevice of claim 10, wherein said filter head spud further comprises: atube comprising a proximal end and a distal end; a first chamberconfigured to slidably house said touch plug; and a second chamber influid communication with said one or more passageways and said proximalend.
 12. The filter sensor of claim 11, wherein said first chamber iselectrically insulated from said second chamber.
 13. The filter sensordevice of claim 9, further comprising biasing means, disposed in saidfilter head spud, and configured to bias said touch plug toward a distalend of said filter head spud.
 14. The filter sensor device of claim 9,wherein said touch plug is biased toward a distal end of said filterhead spud, and wherein: said touch plug is electrically coupled withsaid filter head spud when said probe is not selectively engaged withsaid touch plug; and said touch plug is electrically insulated from saidfilter head spud when said probe is selectively engaged with said touchplug.
 15. The filter sensor device of claim 14, is configured togenerate a signal indicative of said probe not engaged with said touchplug when said touch plug is electrically coupled with said filter headspud.
 16. The filter sensor device of claim 9, wherein said filter headspud is configured to selectively engage with said filter canister. 17.The filter sensor device of claim 9, further comprising one or more of:said contaminant sensor selectively engaged with said filter head andelectrically coupled with said sensor coupler; a wireless signalcommunicator, selectively engaged with said filter head and electricallycoupled with said sensor coupler, and configured to be wirelessly,communicatively coupled with a remote contaminant sensor unit; and awired signal communicator, selectively engaged with said filter head andelectrically coupled with said sensor coupler, and configured to becommunicatively coupled with said remote contaminant sensor unit.
 18. Afilter system, comprising: a filter head, configured to receive anunfiltered liquid through a first port and discharge a filtered liquidthrough a second port, and comprising: a selectively engaged contaminantsensing unit, configured to detect a signal indicative of a contaminantpresent in a filter unit, and comprising a touch plug disposed at adistal end of said sensing unit; and an outlet spud, disposed at afilter unit receiving portion of said filter head, comprising one ormore laterally disposed ports configured to provide fluid communicationbetween said filter unit said filter head, said outlet spud configuredto receive said touch plug; and said filter unit, configured toselectively engage said filter head at said outlet spud and filter saidunfiltered liquid, said filter unit comprising: a filter canisterconfigured to be selectively engaged with said outlet spud, andcomprising a contaminant receiving portion; and a filter element,disposed in a filter canister, and configured to separate a contaminantfrom said unfiltered liquid and allow said separated contaminant tocollect in said contaminant receiving portion, said filter elementcomprising a fixedly engaged probe configured to: selectively engagesaid touch plug at a first end of said probe when said filter canisteris selectively engaged with said filter head; and provide electricalcoupling between said contaminant and said sensing unit when saidcontaminant is in contact with a second end of said probe and saidfilter canister is selectively engaged with said filter head.
 19. Thefilter system of claim 18, wherein said sensing unit further comprises acommunicatively coupled water detection sensor configured to detect thepresence of water based at least upon said signal.
 20. The filter systemof claim 18, wherein touch plug is biased toward a distal end of saidoutlet spud, and wherein: said touch plug is electrically coupled withsaid outlet spud when said probe is not selectively engaged with saidtouch plug; and said touch plug is electrically insulated from saidoutlet spud when said probe is selectively engaged with said touch plug.21. A filter element, comprising: a filtering media configured toseparate a contaminant from a mixture; an end cap, operably engaged withsaid filtering media when said filter element is disposed in a filtercanister that is configured to selectively engage a spud that is engagedwith a filter head, wherein said end cap is configured to fixedly hold aprobe, wherein said probe comprises: a first end configured to makecontact with a touch plug end of a sensing unit disposed in said filterhead when said filter canister is selectively engaged with said filterhead, and the touch plug end is slidably disposed in said filter headspud and biased toward said probe, when said canister is selectivelyengaged with said spud; and a second end, disposed in a contaminantreceiving portion of said filter canister when said filter canister isselectively engaged with said filter head.
 22. A filter element,comprising: a filtering media configured to separate a contaminant froma mixture; an end cap, operably engaged with said filtering media whensaid filter element is disposed in a filter canister that is configuredto selectively engage a spud that is engaged with a filter head, whereinsaid end cap is configured to fixedly hold a probe, wherein said probecomprises: a first end configured to make contact with a touch plug endof a sensing unit, the sensing unit in wireless communication with anexternal control module, and the touch plug end is slidably disposed insaid filter head spud and biased toward said probe, when said canisteris selectively engaged with said spud; and a second end, disposed in acontaminant receiving portion of said filter canister when said filtercanister is selectively engaged with said filter device.